In the rich hill of Potosí in Bolivia there is a silver mine that was the largest in the world. It has been exploited since 1546 with the arrival of the Spanish who enslaved the indigenous people to steal the precious metal. To this day, hundreds of meters underground, the indigenous miners continue to exploit the mine in extremely precarious conditions, Martín Cádiz is one of them; hi works in the depths of the hill and desires that his children do not enter these tunnels of hell.

2025

2024

His buildings are garish, colorful and completely overloaded. Columns and glittering chandeliers everywhere, and way too much of everything. The Bolivian civil engineer and architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre (*1971) builds houses in El Alto for a nouveau riche upper class of the Aymara, the largest indigenous ethnic group in Bolivia.
2022

2020

Images of Argentinian companies and factories in the first light of day, seen from the inside of a car, while the director reads out documents in voiceover that reveals the collusion of the same concerns in the military dictatorship’s terror.
2020

Danger, toil, and superstition pervade life in a mining town high up in the Bolivian mountains. Tin is the heartbeat of the community providing jobs and livelihoods - but at considerable cost. With deaths commonplace, people make offerings to El Tio, the devil under the earth, for protection and good fortune. But when the mountain's flow of tin ebbs, further measures must be taken...
2017

Miners in a Bosnian coal mine. The camera silently watches over the miners working tirelessly amidst endless noise and the flickering light of lanterns.
2017
Are tourists destroying the planet-or saving it? How do travelers change the remote places they visit, and how are they changed? From the Bolivian jungle to the party beaches of Thailand, and from the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali to the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan, GRINGO TRAILS traces stories over 30 years to show the dramatic long-term impact of tourism on cultures, economies, and the environment.
2014

2006: Evo Morales, first indigenous President is elected in Bolivia after the 2003 dramatic events following the fall of the President Sanchez de Lozada (exiled in the U.S. since then). The socialist revolution enters in its crucial stage. But dealing with power carries a burden of temptations and pathologies. In four years of shooting between Bolivia and the US this film focus on the difficult path of this unique historical opportunity. The film ends with the recent TIPNIS dramatic indigenous protest which creates an historical circle.
2013
Documentary about the poor circumstances in the process of manufacturing iPhones - about mineworkers in Rwanda, illegal workers in Shenzhen, and repair-techs in Hamburg.
2012
A day in the life of Esperanza, a Quechua girl who lives in the remote mountains of southwestern Bolivia.
2012

In 1946, a group of Latvian Brazilian Baptist missionaries arrived to Rincon del Tigre (“Jaguar’s Corner”), in the backwoods of Bolivia, to preach God’s word to the Ayoreo Indians. After sixty years of selfless work in a largely hostile environment, something seems to have gone terribly wrong. Habituated to living under the protective wings of the mission, the Ayoreos seem neither to be willing to support themselves and start living on their own, nor able to return to their traditional way of life in the jungle. Dressed in second-hand clothes, they are stranded in the backwoods of Western-style civilization, with no particular way to go.
2010

2009

'The Devil's Miner' tells the story of 14-year-old Basilio who worships the devil for protection while working in a Bolivian silver mine to support his family.
2005

A documentary on American political campaign marketing tactics and their consequences.
2005

1992

The story of a poor girl who leaves her starving family and sheep for a more prosperous village. Her grandfather finds her and tries to convince her to return to her home.
1953


Directed by Bolivian-born filmmaker Humberto Ríos (working from Argentina, where he was based), this 65-minute color documentary chronicles the struggle of Bolivian miners and peasants in the period leading up to the de facto government of dictator Hugo Banzer, who came to power with U.S. backing. The film offers a critical warning about the rise of dictatorships across Latin America, situating Bolivia's social conflict within the broader wave of imperialism and military repression sweeping the region at the time.
1972

A description of the prevailing deplorable conditions in coal mines, as well as the burial of deceased miners following a mining accident in the Silesian town of Neurode.
1930